


Captivate

by Cornerofmadness



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Light Bondage, Malcolm Bright Gets a Hug, Malcolm Bright Needs a Hug, Mild Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Sensation Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:48:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24411577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerofmadness/pseuds/Cornerofmadness
Summary: Learning of the concept ofkintsugifrom Edrisa, Dani thought a philosophy of something being more beautiful for being broken, that flaws were of value, couldn’t apply to anyone more than Malcolm Bright. As someone who’s been broken and repaired herself, Dani knows he’s not so flawed as to be irreparable. She simply has to make him see that and she thinks she has the perfect plan.
Relationships: JT Tarmel/Tally Tarmel, Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 50
Kudos: 83
Collections: Dick or Treat - Scrohto Region





	1. What Friends Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Prettybutt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prettybutt/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** Not mine, Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver owns it
> 
> **Notes:** This is written for Prettybutt for the prompt of Brightwell romance. It also fulfills another challenge which requires the use of Pokémon battle moves as a title which accounts for this one (I might have just called it _kintsugi_ otherwise). And it fills my allbingo prompt of 'weapons.' It’s always hard to guess what people will find romantic. As for me, if someone planned me this date, I’d probably stay with them always.
> 
> Temporary note: to prevent editing burn out, I’ll be posting a chapter at a time but it is done so no fears of starting a WIP only to find It abandoned. It’s done and the explicit rating stuff is in chapter four. The rest is teen.

Chapter One

Bright was the only man she knew who would wear a suit to just sit down and talk. He’d been showing up at the station for the last few days, mostly just to see her and JT. Gil was still in the hospital, getting stronger every day, thankfully. She and JT - with copious help from Edrisa and a D.A. who wanted Endicott’s corruption cleaned up as quickly as possible - had broken the techs who had framed Bright. He was in the clear but the higher ups hadn’t wanted him in on any cases, not at least until Gil returned which would be weeks. She and JT were temporarily assigned to Lieutenant Murray and she was fine with Bright being around; she might even have him on a case if the upper brass wasn’t being weird about it.

Dani knew Bright was lonely and afraid, for Gil, for his sister, hell even for his father who was being transferred back to Claremont. That might make Bright relax a little but she couldn’t blame him for being on edge. Dani had expected his visit today, been waiting for him because she had plans. He was later than usual but Edrisa had texted Bright to join her on a project after conferring with Dani on ways to help lift his spirits. She had corralled him into helping her guest star on a true crime podcast. Edrisa was crazy for them and had roped Dani in once. She had to admit, it had been fun. They actually garnered a few fans, which had bemused her. 

Dani had her own plans for helping Bright through these tough times. No, it was more than that, and she had better accept what was in her mind and heart if it had any chance of working. Bright sauntered her way, his head swiveling back and forth probably looking for JT. She waved him over. “How was it?”

He smiled and picked up his pace. “It was surreal. Have you ever listened to any of these?”

Standing up, she stretched. “I’ve actually done a podcast with Edrisa once. Surreal is a good word for it. It was kinda fun.”

Bright nodded. “It was. She showed me where to look for comments when it goes live. If this had existed when I was at Harvard, I would have done a paper on the psychology behind it. Did you know that it’s predominately women who listen to true crime?”

“I didn’t.” Dani smiled. Him being happy and excited made her heart sing. “Looking for tips?” 

“Possibly.” He made a comical face. “I shall heed that warning and maybe not suggest Mother listen to it when it comes out.” 

Dani spotted the subtle tremble of his lips. It wasn’t his mother he was thinking of but rather his sister. With some hard core commitments to therapy and a few weeks in The Osbourne Foundation, some sort of luxury mental health treatment center, the Whitly team of lawyers had gotten Ainsley off on justifiable homicide, spinning Endicott’s killing as her actions having saved her and her brother from a man who had been threatening them and was now known to have had a police lieutenant stabbed. Endicott’s goon would have dumped Gil in a land fill or river somewhere if not for Jessica Whitly. Dani still marveled over that one. She knew Malcolm did too but she also suspected things weren’t easy between him and Ainsley. It was one thing to investigate crimes. It was another to watch a man getting his throat slashed by your sister no matter how much you hated the man. 

“Your mother can hold her own with or without that podcast. She is far more bad assed than I ever imagined,” Dani replied. 

Bright let out a long slow breath, shaking his head. “You’re not alone. I’m just glad she likes you and JT again. I’d hate it if she held on to the idea cops aren’t my friends.”

Dani patted his arm, far happier that he wasn’t holding her doubt against her. She was doing enough of that on her own. She regretted every shred of doubt she had in him and couldn’t help but wonder if she hadn’t been so badly hurt in the past would she have mistrusted him. She might not have on the blinders Edrisa did but she should have believed in Bright. “There is one cop in particular she seems to like or is it my imagination that she’s visiting Gil often?”

“Not your imagination,” he replied, looking bemused.

“Are they…well, they can’t be dating, can they?” Dani picked up her purse.

“It would have said no but…”

She raised her eyebrows, and he flushed.

“I was going to visit and spotted her kissing him. I turned around and went for coffee…with like four different flavors in it because I needed all the sugar and caffeine to process that one.” He chuckled ruefully.

“I can’t say that I blame you.”

“When I was a kid I wondered….anyhow, I’m staying out of that until one of them decides it’s time to tell me.” Bright spread his hands. “It’s their time. I plan to let them have it.”

“That sounds like the best thing to do. Come on.” She put a hand on his arm. “Let’s go. I’m taking you out.”

Bright looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Out?”

“I know you don’t eat much but it’s dinner time. Let’s go get something to eat,” she said, hoping he’d agree or this evening was going to go eschew really quick.

For a moment she thought he’d protest but he nodded and in those big blue eyes she saw the loneliness and desire to be with friends. “Thank you. You don’t have to buy me dinner though.”

“If you’re going to be weird about it, we can go dutch.” 

“Where are we going?”

“Can it be a surprise?” she countered, knowing it was risky. Bright had a restrictive menu and she had never actually asked him what he could and couldn’t eat. All she knew was he could have sparkling water, licorice, lollipops and lemon Jell-O.

Bright shrugged. “Sure.”

Smiling, Dani led him out to her car. She locked her gun and badge up in the small gun safe and slipped it under the trunk’s spare wheel cover before she got behind the wheel. It was a bit of a drive to get to where she planned to take him and at least it had a decent parking lot, something at a premium usually. He glanced up at the Italian name on the restaurant but said nothing. She doubted he’d be silent if it was something he couldn’t eat. Once inside at the maître d’s podium, Dani peered around and saw the Tarmels.

“Our friends are already here,” she said to the maître d, pointing.

“Excellent,” he replied, handing off two more menus to them.

“I’ve been set up,” Bright whispered as he followed Dani to the table.

“If dinner with friends is the worst thing that happens to you tonight, Bright…”

“Not complaining. You could have told me. I wouldn’t have run off.”

She glanced over at him and realized he looked hurt. She hadn’t intended that. “Sorry. We thought it would be a fun surprise.”

He shrugged, the gloom fleeing. “Thanks.” He smiled more when Tally stood up and gave him a little hug. JT seemed shocked by it. “Hello, Tally. It’s nice to see you again. Hey, JT.”

“Glad you made it,” Tally said, sitting back down.

Bright pulled Dani’s chair out for her before she could, taking her by surprise. Of course, he’d been raised to be a gentleman. He was nothing like most of the men she’d ever dealt with. He most definitely wasn’t Khalil. Bright waited for her to sit before taking his own seat. 

“How are you doing, Tally?” Bright’s gaze flicked over at Dani.

“I know,” Dani replied. Tally wasn’t really showing much yet. She wouldn’t have known if JT hadn’t told her.

“Okay, JT asked me not to say anything,” Bright replied.

“And I’m glad you were good about that,” JT said.

“And I’m doing well, thank you,” Tally said. “But I’m more concerned with how you’re doing.”

“I think I’d like to look at the menu before I get into that. What’s good here?”

“You don’t eat.” JT smirked. “Does it matter?”

Bright snorted. “I’ll make an effort.”

“I’m all about the Asiago gnocchi in the wine cream sauce,” Tally said. “But I’m also eyeing that calamari appetizer.” She nudged JT who raised his eyebrows.

“I am not eating squid just because your crazy hormones say it’s yummy,” he replied.

“I’ve always liked squid,” she protested.

“I’d share it with you, Tally,” Bright said, and Dani couldn’t help but stare at him. The man who lived on air was going to eat tentacles. “I like it with the garlic wine sauce.”

“Great. The tentacles are mine.” She wagged a finger at him.

“Okay. Also, would it offend you if I get a cocktail? I know it bugs some pregnant women,” he said.

“Go nuts. JT already has a beer coming.”

“Great. I picked the cocktail first.” Bright sighed. “I’m turning into my mother.”

“Given your other option, we’ll take it and run.” JT folded up his menu. “Spicy lamb sausage ravioli or do you want me to get something you can heat up tomorrow if there’s leftovers, Tally?”

Tally shook her head. “You get what you want.”

When the waiter returned, they ordered. Dani opted for the pumpkin mezzaluna and Bright chose Chianti pappardelle with wild boar ragu and a corpse reviver #2 to drink. She looked at him until he raised his eyebrows.

“You’re living on the wild side tonight.”

“I’m in the mood to experiment. I’m…” His lips trembled a bit. “I’m not okay, which gets back to your question, Tally. I am not okay, and I’m very glad you all asked me here tonight because I’m pretty sure you did it because you know I’m not okay.”

Dani put her hand on his. “We know but it’s still hard to hear you say it.”

“You always lie and tell us that you’re fine,” JT added.

Bright dragged in a deep breath, his hand shuddered under Dani’s touch. “I tell lies to trick my own brain into believing them. Those are the lies I use to save myself from myself.” With that he seemed to deflate as if something heavy had moved off him. “I don’t think I’ve ever said that to anyone who wasn’t my therapist or Gil.”

“Lie away if that’s what you need to do,” JT said. “If you telling us you’re fine helps you be a little fine, then you do that. But if you need to talk, you know you can do that too. I’ve been there for battle buddies from the war. You and I might have less in common but Gil was right. You’re one of us, and we’re here for you.”

Dani squeezed Bright’s hand. “Exactly what JT said.” She sensed something change in him, like he was fighting to not go down a certain path. He didn’t want to bring them down. “But if you don’t want to talk about it tonight you don’t have to.”

He flashed a wan smile. “I don’t. Thanks.” Bright paused as the waitress came back with JT’s beer and his cocktail. 

“I have to ask, what is a corpse reviver #2?” Dani peered at yellowish cocktail.

“It’s absinthe, gin, Lillet blanc, Cointreau and lemon juice. It was actually one of those hangover cures way back when cocktail culture ruled, hence the weird name. You can taste it.” Bright pointed to the drink. 

Dani took a sip, smiling around the rim of the glass. “That is good!”

“I’ve always thought so. Would you like that one? I can order another.”

She shook her head. “Designated driver, nothing with four liquors in it for me. You enjoy.”

“Thanks, so Tally, are you started on the nursery?” Bright asked as the waitress brought the calamari appetizer. Bright edged it closer to Tally.

“Thinking on what I’d like.”

“I could help if you two need any,” Bright said, spearing a couple rings of fried calamari and putting it on his appetizer plate. 

Tally eyed him like he fell from the moon. “Really?”

“Seriously, bro? You can build things?” 

“No, not at all.” Bright laughed. “But I can hold things and read instructions.”

“See, babe, men _can_ read instructions.” Tally smirked at JT who rolled his eyes. “And I appreciate the offer, Malcolm. If we need extra hands, we’ll call.”

“And thank you for not automatically assuming I meant money with that offer.”

“Of all the crazy irritating things you do, tossing your money in our faces is not one of them.” JT shrugged. “I figured that wasn’t what you meant.”

“It’s not as though I am unwilling to float a loan to friends.” He shrugged. “Especially since no one here has immediately assumed they could have some claim on my money. I’ve had people in the FBI get upset when I wouldn’t constantly bail them out. I’m like you’ve excluded me, belittled me and then you want me to pay a debt? I think not. You three, on the other hand, are kind to me, mostly.” Bright eyed JT who grinned. “And look out for me. I’d be happy to help if you ever get in a tight spot.”

“And that’s appreciated too,” Tally said. “And I’m sad that your former coworkers were so mean. JT told me about how nasty they were when you were…taken.” She flushed, shifting uncomfortably. 

“Thank you. I know part of me being here tonight, us being friends, was Gil asking them to give me a chance.” Bright pulled out a small container from his inner jacket pocket but kept it shielded in his hand. Dani realized it was his traveling pill box.

“It was,” Dani replied, tapping his hand and nodding to his glass of water to let him know it was okay. He smiled faintly, and then took his fistful of meds. “But you won us over on your own.”

“We got used to your crazy,” JT said. “And you weren’t wrong. You’re good at your job, and you care about the victims. You still make us nuts though but what would we do without you?”

“Still do a good job because you were already good without me, and Dani would have to make a few less hospital runs to get me.” Bright grinned, and then gestured to the squid, changing the topic. “Want to try some, Dani?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Hell no.”

“Have you ever tried it?”

Dani shook her head. 

“You should try something once before deciding hell no. When squid is done well, it’s delicious. When it’s bad, it’s like a rubber eraser. This is very good.”

Dani wrinkled her nose. “Okay just one bite, _not_ the tentacles.”

“Those are Tally’s,” he replied and speared her a ring. Bright swished it through the garlic-wine sauce and offered it to her.

Dani pulled it off the fork and popped it into her mouth. It was chewier than she expected but not horribly fishy. “Okay, it’s not bad. I’m not sure I want more but it’s not as terrible as I expected.”

“Weird.” JT said.

“Who knew that squid was JT’s Kryptonite.” Bright laughed. “You should make that your snack, Tally, that way he won’t eat it when you’re not looking.”

“That’s how he figured out you were pregnant, me eating your snack.” JT eyed him over his beer bottle. “And proceed to turn his creepy profiler vision on the peanut.”

Dani shook her head. “Really?”

“I can’t always turn it off! I swear that’s true,” Bright protested. “And I was right, wasn’t I?”

“That’s what makes it creepy!” JT assured him.

Dani didn’t agree out loud with JT but in a way she agreed. She remembered how angry she had gotten when Bright had so quickly picked up on her undercover work, angrier than he deserved. He was right. He needed that information but her mistakes back there were deeply shameful to her, and yet she felt somehow better once she had been honest about her addiction. She had given out that information on her terms not his. It was probably her first step in trying to trust Bright. She was still haunted by the expression on his face when he thought she was a friend and the quiet acceptance when she said no she wasn’t, as if he expected rejection and thought he deserved it.

Her dark reverie ended when the waitress returned with their food. The conversation shifted to lighter topics: JT and Tally teasing Bright about not doing much but read on his Tahiti vacation – okay she piled on too because who went to Tahiti and hid in a hotel room? How JT and Tally didn’t want to know if they were having a boy or a girl, and how Tally might just conscript Bright into painting the nursery. Dani would have to show up just to see how bad it went; Dani shared the urban fantasy book she was really enjoying and was surprised that Bright liked the genre too. They debated what car Gil would get this time once he was recovered enough to drive and who was going to pay for it. Bright had no doubts it would be his mother but he didn’t enlighten JT that they suspected Gil would be dating Jessica by then. 

She and Tally split a slice of raspberry cheesecake at the end of dinner. Unsurprisingly Bright didn’t eat all his food but did take it to go. She wouldn’t be surprised to see it on Gil’s hospital tray tomorrow. What surprised her more was the three cocktails Bright drank. He did manage to get to the car with every appearance of being sober, at least until he was strapped in the passenger seat. Loose limbed, he watched her get in the car with glassy eyes.

“Thank you for bringing me, Dani. You can just drop me off and I can take the subway home.”

“You on a subway? You must be drunk.”

“I can call a cab? Adolpho?”

She side eyed him as she pulled out into traffic. “Adolpho?”

“Mother’s driver.” 

“She literally has a driver to go with that maid I saw at the house?”

“Louisa? Yes, she does. I try not to depend on Mother and all her employees. And I don’t want to abuse you either, hauling me around everywhere. I know Gil always has you playing chauffer but I can…”

“Shut up, Bright.” Dani chuckled. “You’re drunk and I don’t mind taking you home. It’s what friends do. What we don’t do is let drunk friends stumble home on their own.”

“Not drunk,” he protested, and to be fair, he did seem almost sober but his eyes weren’t totally focused. “That said, the cocktails and my meds might not be playing well together so thank you for taking me home.”

“Should you even drink? Not judging, just concerned.” More than concerned. She knew the horror of overdosing, knowing you were going to die on some filthy floor and no one gave a damn. She wondered if home was where she should take him.

“Not really. A little is fine. Probably shouldn’t have had that third one but they were so good and I was hoping…” He sighed. “That it would help me sleep. You don’t have to worry, I’m not that messed up, and I won’t be drinking more once I get home.”

“You’ll tell me if you are feeling wrong, though.”

He nodded. “Yes. Thanks again for asking me out tonight. This was fun.”

“Glad you liked it. I know you’ve been having a very bad time between Eve, Gil, and your sister. You needed to have a little fun. You really need to have more.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Bright replied, taking her by surprise. Dani expected him to say he was fine or protest.

“Let me think on it.”

“Okay,” he said, and then launched into the topic of the podcast he’d done with Edrisa, so animated, rambling and excited about it, Dani couldn’t help but smile.

She felt a tinge of jealousy. Edrisa and Malcolm had a lot of things in common, things that she didn’t entirely share, not to mention Edrisa was a doctor. Would that be more in line with who would make an appropriate partner as far as his mother was concerned? Would Mrs. Whitly care about that sort of thing? Bright had told her that the Miltons had not been kind to his mother that she married a ‘penniless’ doctor, or would-be doctor at the time. She got the impression his parents married young. Then again, Mrs. Whitly was apparently making moves on Gil. A cop wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. Of course, Edrisa was not a threat to her and Bright because he couldn’t possibly miss her flirtations and didn’t act on it. He wasn’t interested in her in the romantic sense. It didn’t mean he was interested in her either but Dani suspected he was. 

She kept him talking about the podcast that had somehow morphed to other podcasts he liked, which shocked her that he liked things about true hauntings. Who knew Bright would want to go ghost hunting? He made her want to go too and who would ever have guessed that?

Dani got him into his loft and he was walking fine so she relaxed a little about the alcohol-meds interaction. 

“Would you like a night cap?” he asked. “Non-alcoholic. I have…well sparkling water.” Bright made a face. “Or things with caffeine.”

“A little late for that.” Dani laughed as her phone rang. She pulled it out and the air went out of her. “Damn.”

“Work.” He sounded so sad as he put his leftovers in the fridge. He knew that he wasn’t going to be asked in, not until Gil was back. “It has to be something big if you’re getting called in instead of the night shift.”

She sighed. “Yes. Sorry, I have to go.”

“Of course. Stay safe and thanks for tonight.”

Dani paused in the doorway. “Hey, Bright.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to go out sometime?” Dani blurted out before she lost her nerve.

His smile lit up the loft. “Yes! I could…”

She whipped up her hand. “Trust me to plan it?”

“I _always_ trust you.”

He meant that, and Dani knew it. “Great. I’ll work on it…when I’m not drowning in work.” Dani sighed again. “Good night, Bright.”

“Good night and I’m looking forward to our date.”

So was she, more than she could tell him.


	2. A Stroll through the Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does contain talk about suicidal ideation and mental illness.

Chapter Two

Dani shot Malcolm a nervous look as they paused on the path that led into the Shakespeare garden. For their date he was as casually dressed as she’d ever seen him, black cotton pants and a wine-hued polo shirt. The date had been two weeks of preparation between the case and Gil getting an infection from the stab wounds. Neither she nor Bright had been willing to stray too far from his side but the infection had been defeated. Gil looked a hundred percent better yesterday than he had in days. Knowing Gil was bouncing back did nothing to alleviate her case of nerves. 

True to his word, Bright trusted her to plan the date and asked no questions not even when she drove them into Brooklyn. He did, however, shoot a few curious glances her way. She had tried to get into his head for a change. Certainly, Gil had taught her what he knew of profiling but now she was wondering did Gil learn it all on the job or did he learn it from Bright too? She could imagine Bright calling Gil weekly from Harvard, telling him everything that was going on and all the cool things he was learning. 

It didn’t matter who learned what from whomever. Dani alternated between comfortable with her choices for the date and thinking she had created an unmitigated disaster, which would last all day and into the night. She had packed her rare day off with hours of things for them to do. Bright craned his head from side to side taking all the lush plants and trees in. Had he ever been here on a school trip? Did boarding schools even do that? Surely they did but his trips were probably to Rome or London and other places she had only seen in pictures and her dreams.

“What is it?” She couldn’t contain the question, a hint of panic rising up in her. He’d been _so_ quiet. He hated this, didn’t he? They were barely started and she had failed to capture romance. 

“You’re so passionate about the Bronx. I fully expected we’d be going to the zoo,” he replied, and she kicked herself. She had thought of that but changed her mind. “You surprised me. I like that!”

The tension poured out of her. _Okay, he doesn’t hate it. He’s just thinking deep. He does that._ Dani summoned up a smile. “My father brought me here when I was a kid. He thought it was important to get out into some greenery. I fell in love with this place.” The Brooklyn Botanical gardens were huge, over fifty acres. She saw something different every time she came. “I know we can’t see it all but I thought I could show you some of my favorite places.”

His expression warmed like a flower in the sun. “Good. I was afraid you were picking something for me that you might not enjoy.” He tapped the word Shakespeare on the paper map they’d been given. “I didn’t know you liked Shakespeare.” 

“I like Hamlet,” she replied. “Honestly I only read that, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet in school and not much else. Between me and you, I thought Juliet was an idiot to kill herself over a guy when she was only thirteen.”

“Me too, as far as Juliet goes. I’ve seen a bit more Shakespeare than you.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. It’s one of the reasons I thought we should start here. What I really like about this garden is the English garden feel. It’s chaotic and alive with color and I love that.” She threw her arms wide to take in all the plants bursting from every available space in the garden, so many colors, she was hard pressed to see even a third of it.

His answering smile erased any residual nerves plaguing her. “I do too. The Cotswolds were gorgeous. I loved traveling there. Ireland too, so many pubs with just all these hanging baskets of flowers. It was lovely.”

“I can only imagine.” And just like that a tiny new nugget of misgiving sprung up. She’d never gotten far from the city. Money had been a worry in her late teens after her father was gone, and then she had fast tracked on a job that didn’t allow for too much time off. Bright had so much money he worked because he wanted to. No, he needed to but not for monetary reasons. _Stop it. If he wanted to be out with a rich socialite he would be!_ “What is kinda cool is all the flowers are from Shakespearean plays and the plaques have the verses on them. Or have you seen this before?”

“No. I don’t remember ever being here. Mother isn’t a stroll in the garden type and my father liked to go camping, which he has probably forever ruined for me, which is a pity because I liked it but now….”

“You have to wonder if he had…ulterior motives for going,” she finished for him, as delicately as she could. It sounded better than ‘because your dad was out burying bodies while you were sleeping in a cabin.’ Hell, the FBI was still compiling what they found in their search around that cabin. Were they Watkins’ kills or Whitly’s or both? Did it matter? _Certainly not on a date. Put it out of your head._ Dani wasn’t sure she could and knew Malcolm never could.

He nodded. “I thought maybe Jackie and Gil might have brought me but if they did, I clearly don’t remember so this is exciting. I get to do something new!”

“Good, follow me.”

As they slowly made their way into the garden, Dani let herself relax more. Bright was fascinated by the plaques with their Shakespearean verses. They saw the tail end of the dwarf iris season and in one spot strawberries, like dangling rubies, called her name. Dani wanted to pick them, sun-warmed, and feed them to Malcolm. As he read the verse by a stand of Elizabeth bellflowers, he reached out and caught her hand. He gave it a little squeeze before pulling her closer to him. Bright pulled out his phone, wagging it back and forth, a question in his eyes, which she realized where close in color to those irises. Dani nodded, moving in close so he could get a selfie of them and the explosion of flowers behind them.

When they started walking again, Malcolm kept hold of her hand at first before sliding his arm around her waist. When she slipped her arm around him, Dani swore she heard him sigh softly, that happy little noise of someone touch-starved finally being fed. They strolled through the Shakespearean garden that way, only breaking apart to take pictures. She led him to the fragrance garden next. Here they stayed apart, touching plants and flowers to bring their sweet scents to their noses. Dani loved the smell of lemon balm. The oils coated her fingers and she cupped them around her mouth and nose breathing deep. When she dropped her hands, Malcolm was smiling at her.

“It’s pretty,” she said.

“It’s not the only thing that is,” he replied. “I’m pretty sure you can grow this indoors if you wanted.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “My thumb isn’t particularly green.”

“I did pretty well growing things in college,” he replied, a hint of a blush on his cheeks making her wonder just what he grew. Dani figured she had a decent idea.

“And let’s skirt around that.” Dani pointed to a patch of Lantana. “It smells like cat pee to me.”

“Yeah, if I wanted that, I’d go to Gil’s after we’ve been on the job for too many hours.” Bright chuckled.

“You are the one looking after them at the moment,” Dani said, knowing Gil’s pride of furry little devils needed care and had been surprised when Bright fell on that grenade. That’s when she learned one of Gil’s back bedrooms had been his for years, equipped for his unusual nightly needs. He had opted for not sleeping at Gil’s, however, and had shifted the pride to his loft. “How is poor Sunshine handling that?”

“She’s at Mother’s. I’m sure Mother is simply thrilled, might even be having squab for dinner.” He laughed as she led him to the celebrity path. Lining the walkway which bore the names of dozens of Brooklyn natives, the Rhododendrons burst with blooms and buzzed with happy bees. “I’ve been adjusting to cats running everywhere in the loft. If you come over, keep an eye out for Samwise because that furry little jerk likes to dive bomb your head from the open staircase.”

She giggled. “What is up on the second floor anyhow?”

Bright pulled her to a stop on Harry Houdini’s steppingstone. “You didn’t look after you knocked me out in the tub?” He flashed a Cheshire grin.

“That seemed rude but I really did want to explore.”

“It’s mostly just another sitting area with great light for reading. Lots of books and the rest of the weapons collection is up there. That’s where I have the gun like the one I used to shoot out the window.”

Dani hip bumped him. “That’s when I learned to ask you what your plan actually is when you say you have one because you absolutely did _not_ have one.”

“I had something of a plan,” he protested.

“No one plans ‘let me jump out a three-story window with no safety net’,” she argued. “And somehow it worked. But…are you ever going to tell me what you were going to say but didn’t that day?”

He squinched up his features. “Maybe. If I remember what it was I was going to say, because trust me, I was scared and my mind went blank!”

Dani could buy that but she also thought it had been something personal he didn’t want JT or Gil to hear. That was the moment she thought Bright realized he had feelings for her. Her moment had been in the cabin in the woods when he wasn’t there. The panic of that moment still brought a sour tang to the back of her throat. “Imagine how we felt leaving you there with a defective land mine.”

She prodded him along gently, and they walked into a shadier area of the path. He went silent. Actually, he hadn’t been filling every space with sound like he often did but he had felt extremely present next to her. In this moment Dani sensed him retreating. She had inadvertently sent him down a rabbit hole and Alice wasn’t waiting at the bottom for him. Spotting a nearby park bench, Dani tugged him over to it and sat down. Bright obliged her. 

“I said something wrong. I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “No, you didn’t. I was just thinking about that day. I was worried I’d die without you ever trusting me enough to tell me about yourself.” His brow furrowed. “I think I remember you telling me about trust issues that night the box of drugs exploded on me but I was on one hell of an ugly trip and I can’t be sure of much.”

His hand began to shake and she took it in hers, holding tight. She hadn’t realized her keeping her private life private made him think she didn’t trust him. “I trust you, Bright. It took some doing but I do. You could always just ask me things.”

“I’ve noticed a tendency for you to snap at me when I do,” he admitted, his voice soft, hurt. “You have a painful past too. I get that and didn’t want to pry, and believe me, I understand not wanting to put yourself on display. I’ve never had that luxury. What my father did was sensational. Books have been written; true crime shows produced. Hell, he’s even been the focus of an episode on that podcast Edrisa roped me into. _Everyone_ knows my past no matter how I feel about it. I decided you deserve your privacy and that when you wanted to, you’d tell me about it.”

“I’m sorry that I snapped,” Dani said after a moment. He was right. She had been short with him on more than one occasion when she thought he was being nosy. She hadn’t wanted him to know about her undercover life. He probably had deserved the taste of her temper for profiling her. He might not have deserved it when she snarled at him about burying her father. He’d been worried about his own father and had withdrawn from everyone. She should have respected it because if there was anything she had learned about Bright it was he hated his father but he loved him too in spite of himself. He’d been hurting, and she hadn’t been sensitive to that, annoyed that he had been short with her.

“No, you don’t have to apologize. That’s not what I’m looking for.” He took a deep breath in, canting his face to the sky. “I don’t even know what I want other than for you to know that you can talk to me about anything. You know I won’t judge.”

“I do.” He hadn’t even batted an eye when she’d confessed to be a recovering addict, no judgment nothing but a listening ear and quiet acceptance.

“What I wanted to say that day when I was holding the bomb is gone but what I felt in that moment was ‘I want to live. I want to talk to Dani again’.” He dragged in a shuddering breath. “I don’t always feel that way, wanting to live. I think you realize that. You saw the depths I can sink to on our very first case when I had the needle in my wrist. I could see your fury at me in your eyes. You didn’t even know me yet, or like me much, but you were afraid of what I was about to do to myself if bought time for you and Blair.”

“I was,” she whispered.

Bright continued as if he didn’t hear her. “It’s one of the reasons I wanted the cats with me. If I’m taking care of them, I have a reason to go on.”

“Malcolm….”

At her use of his first name, he startled a bit. “I know. It’s like I said at dinner, these are the lies I tell myself to keep me going or maybe that one is a truism.” He turned his gaze from the clouds to her. “I’m almost grateful you arrested me that night after the assassin had been dealt with because I was so done with everything.”

Her breath caught as she trembled. “You weren’t…”

“It was in my mind,” he replied, and she took his hand, gathering him closer to her. 

“You have people who would never get over it, you know that right?”

“It won’t be the first time Gil and Mother have gone through an attempt with me,” he said with naked honesty that hurt so much Dani felt encased in cement, unable to draw in air. “One of the things I think of is how devastated my family would be. And that’s not a lie. That’s a truth that I hold on to dearly. It’s different now. You have no idea how much it means to me to have you, JT and Edrisa as friends. I’ve _never_ had a work relationship like this. This is one of the reasons I almost said no to this date. I nearly called you a dozen times to back out because if I mess up as a potential boyfriend, do I lose one of the only friends I have? And here I am, messing it up.”

Dani looked into his teary eyes and hugged him tight. “You are not messing it up. We might be on a little detour but that’s fine. Malcolm, I know you’re struggling hard right now. Hell, I almost called off the date too for that reason. Is he okay? Am I insensitive to ask him when he’s going through so much trauma right now? I can’t imagine how badly you’d have to mess up that we wouldn’t be friends anymore.”

He tightened his grip on her, saying nothing. Clinging to his skin was the scent of something woodsy and almost like Earl Grey. Whatever this cologne was, she liked it, liked being close enough to smell it, hated the reason she was holding on so tight at the moment. Finally, he pulled away, sitting back on the bench. Dani took his hand again.

“When I came out here today, I knew you weren’t a hundred percent okay. How could you be? But I hoped this might help. If it’s too much, we can cut it short and go home now. Maybe play with the cats? Visit Gil, whatever you want to do.”

“I want to stay,” he replied without hesitation. “I was having fun. I just need a moment.”

“Take as many as you need.” Dani cupped his hand in both of hers. “And I am sorry, for all of what we put you through with that case. We had too much evidence but…I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

He rolled his shoulders. “That is what hurt. That anyone thought I’d be that sloppy if I killed someone, no matter how emotional I might have been.” Bright snorted. “If there was one thing my father taught me it was to clean up after yourself.”

Dani didn’t know if hiding murder was one of the things they had talked about when he visited his father. She didn’t want to think about their topics of conversation. “And I am sorry about Eve,” she said, thinking probably not the best date etiquette to bring up the other woman but Eve had met a horrible end, and Dani knew it weighed on him as if he were somehow responsible. 

“Thanks. Me, too.” He sighed. “Been talking a lot with my therapist about her, putting the relationship into context. I understand why she wanted to know me. Struggling a bit with how far it went but she didn’t deserve what Endicott did to her. She helped a lot of people with her charity and Mother is still funding it but it’s all still on my mind, her death, what Dad did to her killer, and everything with Endicott. But I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

“Of course, but if you do, you call me, right?” She couldn’t picture him drowning in his own grief, not when she could help. “If it gets to be too much, you call.”

He bit his bottom lip, nodding. “I will. You know, I thought I’d get through the date without being broken and weird. I tried to warn you I couldn’t be fixed.”

“And I still don’t believe that. I know you struggle with the concept that occasionally you’re wrong.” She rubbed his wrist, favoring him with a soft smile. “This is one of those times.”

“Maybe.” He shook his head. “Even so, I’ll never be normal.”

“Don’t care. Listen, once, after I broke this knickknack in Edrisa’s office by accident, I felt terrible. She told me it was okay that she would repair it. The Japanese have this concept where flaws in something are embraced, that they are more beautiful for them. Maybe you should see yourself in that light,” Dani suggested.

She watched the tiny muscles in his face work, trying to rein in what might have been a deluge of emotion. Finally, Bright shot her a hesitant smile. “I like that. Thanks.” He dug out a little tin of strange mints, ginger and mango. Bright popped one in his mouth and offered her the tin. Dani took one, making a face as the ginger bit her tongue. He grinned at her. “Okay, where are you taking me next?”

If he wanted to let go of all the pain for a moment, she planned on letting him. “I think we have time to do one more garden before we’ll need to leave if I want to get lunch and get to the next stop on the date.”

“I’m intrigued.”

“I certainly hope so. Luckily, my favorite garden in here is close by.” 

Dani stood and offered him her hand. Bright took it and let her lead him along to the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. He paused on the hillside, his eyes drinking it all in. The beautifully manicured space around the pond stunned her every time she saw it. It was even more fantastic in the fall when all the maples turned colors. Tufted and sculpted topiaries surrounded them. The pond evoked such a sense of peace Dani wanted nothing more than to sit next to it for hours. The stone lanterns and pagodas dotting the landscape lightened her spirits, transporting her to another place. Bright’s face said he was making the trip with her. 

“This is gorgeous,” he breathed, “Absolutely beautiful.”

“I know. I love it here. I could spend all day in just this part of the garden.”

“I don’t blame you.” Bright pulled out his phone again to snap a few more photos. “I would too.”

“Have you ever been to Japan?”

“No, the Philippines with Gil and Jackie once but never Japan.”

“I said before that Gil saved us both but it goes so much further with you,” she said, thinking back to waiting in the hospital to hear if Gil would live or die. Terror had gripped her, and she knew Bright had to have felt the same way but he’d spent those moments in the waiting room trying to calm her down and buoy her spirts. “He really is your Dad.”

He took his camera out, fiddling with it nervously before opting to take a picture of a tall pagoda. She assumed he was gathering his thoughts, and finally, he said, “Yes. I don’t say that out loud too often. Certainly, don’t ever plan on telling Doctor Whitly that I spend Father’s day with Gil. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. He and Jackie were a second set of parents.”

“I’m glad you had them,” she said.

“Me too.” He waved her in front of the pond and Dani posed for a couple of photos, making a few of them silly just to see if she could make him laugh. Hearing him do so, would stay with her. She would remind him of this the next time he said he was too broken to bother with. All he needed was love and patience. Dani led him to the small Shinto temple, and he opined that a tea house wouldn’t go amiss here. 

“There is a tea pavilion.” She pointed in the general direction. “But they only do the tea ceremony on certain days and you have to register for it. It wasn’t today. I looked.”

“Another day then,” he said.

“I like the sound of that. Here, you need to see this.” Dani pulled him along the shady path, regretting they were too late in the season for the cherry blossoms. 

Crossing a wooden bridge, they arrived at the brilliantly red Torii which dominated the landscape. He smiled up at it and this time she took out her phone. She centered them under the Torii and took a few pictures. Bright ran a hand along her cheek after brushing back her hair. Heat rose up her neck, blossoming over her face. Her eyes were already fluttering shut before he kissed her. He wrapped her in his arms, holding her gently as he pressed his lips to hers. Soft and sweet, the kiss flamed the heat in her. It was everything a first kiss should be, warm, breathless, leaving her wanting more.

When he broke the kiss, Dani ran her hand over his cheek, feeling the prickle of his scruff. She kissed him this time, pressing against his body. Time ceased until she heard footsteps on the path. She let him go reluctantly but didn’t want make things awkward for whoever else was here to experience the gardens. She smiled at him, taking his hand.

“That was…” he trailed off.

“Yeah.” Dani licked her lips, gathering her thoughts, not helped by the lingering taste of him. “Are you ready for what comes next?”

“Absolutely.”

Any worries Dani had about part two of the date were gone. She couldn’t wait to show him what she had planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens are real. Sadly I never got to go there when I worked in the city. I'm sure I would have loved them.


	3. Ghosts and Meditation

Chapter three

The sun warming her face, Dani cracked opened an eye and peeked at Bright sitting next to her in the outdoor garden. She had wondered at her own sanity in choosing the Jacques Marchais museum of Tibetan art since Staten Island was such a schlep from Brooklyn and the museum even further inland from the ferry but it had something she thought Bright might like: art and meditation classes. They barely made it there in time, even with her eating food truck food while she drove. Judging by his expression, it was worth it.

She had signed them up for a meditation class within the museum. She and he had talked about many things when he had been recovering in the hospital after Watkins’s attack, and Bright had mentioned yoga and meditation as part of his daily routine. He’d been honest about it being part of his cognitive behavioral therapy. Dani had admired that about him. He was honest about his problems, maybe not entirely, telling her he was fine when he wasn’t but she understood now that was his way of coping. He had his issues but was relatively open about it. Even knowing that everyone was listening in to his session with Coppenrath, Bright had been honest and a lot of what he’d said had frightened her. Dani learned just how deeply he suffered during that sting but in a way, it made her a better friend.

Dani hadn’t ever really meditated before, had only a general idea of what to expect. Their guide today was a Buddhist nun whose name she didn’t remember. Her voice was soft and soothing as she painted word pictures to help them relax and open themselves. Malcolm had been all smiles when he learned what Dani had planned. When the session started, he sat on the mat, immediately crooking his legs into an intricate knot. He settled his hands on his knees, making it look easy. Dani felt stiff enough just trying to sit cross legged. Her relaxing and letting go hadn’t been helped by the naughty inner voice inside her head thrilling to how flexible Bright was. That part of her had big plans for him. Maybe not today but plans none the less. She might be picturing a bungalow on the beach as her ‘happy place’ to relax but her mind’s eye wanted nothing to do with long slow breaths watching the sun set. It was all about something far more primal and energetic.

The deep breathing they had done at the beginning at the meditation had relaxed her but that’s about as far as she got. Maybe this wasn’t for her. Maybe she was doing it wrong. Either way, Dani didn’t really care. This was a half hour of her time well spent just sneaking peeks at the bliss Bright radiated. His body hung loose and limber, the worry drained from the muscles of his face. He was somewhere deep inside his mind’s eye and wasn’t fighting himself like she knew he could do. Dani shut her eyes again, trying to let go and make herself float. She didn’t want to be the only one of the dozen people in the class around her not meditating.

By the end, it wasn’t her thing but still she was glad they had come. When the meditation guide ended the session, Bright stretched like one of Gil’s cats, long and luxurious. Dani liked watching his body move. He smiled at her. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“I thought you might like it. Do you want to look at the exhibits? We have time before dinner and phase three of my plans.”

“Which is still a mystery,” Bright said as she pulled her shoes back on. He found his and started putting them on.

“It is but I’ll tell you over dinner.” Dani nudged him with her shoe. 

“I’d like to look around here before we go,” he added, rolling to his feet.

“Great.”

Dani accepted his hand up, giving her own body a little stretch to shake off the half hour of sitting on the ground. She locked fingers with him as they strolled through the museum. She marveled that this place, nestled into Lighthouse Hill had once been a private home. Part of her wondered if the Miltons had known the original owners once upon a few generations ago because they had to have been that wealthy and eccentric to model their home after Himalayan architecture. It was like nothing she had ever seen.

They paused to study one brass Tara that dated back to the 1600s, which boggled Dani’s mind. She was a bodhisattva, the mother of liberation. What Dani knew of Buddhism could fit in the dot on an I but she liked the idea of liberation. Didn’t Malcolm say he had weapons in his collection at least this old? On another date, she’d make it a stay in type and let him show off his collection. He’d enjoy that no doubt. Of course, a weapons collection was probably on the opposite end of the spectrum from a peaceful Tara. 

They poked about, discovering Buddhas on lotus blossoms, bells, more Taras and an amazing table with dragons for legs and matching chairs in red and gold that she suspected Malcolm would have smuggled home if he could have. It was pretty cool. After their leisurely walk through the museum, they hiked back down the hill to get the bus back to ferry. If there was one thing that nothing could make sexy or romantic it was probably a bus. Still, there was something sweet about resting against his shoulder and chatting about nothing of importance. That was one of the things that made this date less nerve-wracking. She and Bright had known each other for months. They had already worked out how to be with each other. There were no first date jitters on that account but in the back of her head, she knew he was right about something he’d said in the garden: she knew far more about his personal life than he knew of hers. She would need to let him get to know her better.

Once back in Manhattan, Dani herded him to the restaurant he’d picked off her list of possibilities. She figured he’d have to be the one to make the choice on that. She wasn’t particularly picky when it came to food, and he had his issues. He’d surprised her with selecting a pizza joint. He even knew how to fold his slice like a proper New Yorker. Somehow she thought he wouldn’t have. She couldn’t see pizza on his mother’s table. Of course, he’d spent many a meal with Jackie and Gil. 

“So, are you going to tell me where we’re going next?” Malcolm asked, nudging a strand of cheese back onto his slice.

“Do you have any ideas?” She grinned, hitting her slice with a blast of black pepper.

“I could not have predicted anything you’ve picked so far.” He chuckled softly. “Makes me feel like I’m the worst profiler ever until I realized you were profiling me, tailoring this date to me. The garden, that was mostly all you. You thought I’d like it, and you were right but it’s one of your favorite places. Now I know that Dani Powell has a soft spot for flowers, especially the Japanese gardens.”

“Does that get you any closer to tonight?” Dani plucked a piece of pepperoni off her pizza and popped it in her mouth. “But you’re right so far.”

“No, it doesn’t but all information is important. I don’t think you’re that into meditation. Oh, you might learn to be but you did that for me, much appreciated. However, you don’t sit in the quiet easily.”

“I can’t believe you do,” she countered. “You’re always in motion.”

“It’s one of the reasons I try to meditate. We don’t really know what, if anything, meditation does to neurophysiology, in spite of some claims. The mind-body problem remains nowhere near solved,” he replied with great enthusiasm, winding down when he noticed she wasn’t really all that interested in a lecture on neurophysiology, at least not at the moment. He changed tact. “I know things I can eliminate from tonight’s possibilities. We’re not going to a club. I can’t see it being your scene anymore.”

That was a nice way to say, clubs probably weren’t safe for recovering addicts and he was right, they weren’t. Dani inclined her head to him.

“Besides you told me to dress casually so that takes out clubs and the theater.”

“And you actually did dress casual,” she replied, still a bit surprised. “Your time in the hospital aside, I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve seen you without a tie.” An image flashed in her mind of the two times she’d come to arrest him and he’d been casually dressed but Dani quashed those thoughts. She’d have to forgive herself that because he obviously had. 

“I like my ties,” he protested.

“Most men don’t.”

“I think most men don’t see their full potential. Mine are silk and that can be so sensual when you incorp….” He trailed off with a hysterically panicked expression on his face when he realized what he’d been about to blurt out. “But that might best be kept for another night.”

He was too cute when he squirmed so Dani refused to let him off the hook so easily. “Oh, no, continue that thought.”

Ducking his head, he took a bite of pizza, busying himself with chewing. Dani propped her chin on her hand, waiting expectantly. He huffed when he saw she wasn’t going to let it drop.

“Silk is wonderful on sensitized skin, not to mention ties make good blindfolds, gags and tie downs.” Malcolm rolled his shoulders and met her eyes directly as his skin turned a beautiful rosy hue.

Her own cheeks heated up. “Malcolm Bright, you’re a little bit kinky.”

He jutted his chin out. “Maybe more than a little.”

“And you tried to convince me those restraints were for your night terrors.”

“They _are,_ ” he cried. “But I didn’t say that’s the only thing they’re for.”

Dani laughed, shaking her head. “Do me a favor, sometime down the road, work that into a conversation with JT. He owes me money. I bet him you were….ah, adventuresome, and he’s like no way. He’s too uptight and strait-laced.”

“That is not what he called me.”

“No, but it’s nicer.”

Malcolm studied her over the rim of his water glass. “And do I want to know how this bet even came about?”

“First case. He and I were discussing you as you do when someone new is added to the team,” she replied, trying to make it sound a little less like they had been maliciously gossiping, which was closer to the truth. He nodded, allowing her to get away with it. “I said you had to be a little kinky.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t say our victims had been tied up. You were very specific. You said quarter inch-thick Japanese-style bondage rope. I had to go look that up. I didn’t know there was a specific rope like that.”

Bright nodded. “Shibari is a style of bondage. Good catch.”

“I supposed profilers could study that sort of thing too but I also thought, maybe just maybe there was some personal interest.”

“A little of both. Nothing too rough interests me but that is a conversation for another time and place.” He smiled faintly, gesturing to the other diners within earshot. “I’m still waiting to see what else tonight holds because I’m betting it’s not you showing me how well you can tie a knot.”

And that answered a question she had but had been afraid to ask. He was the one tied up. She assumed as much and admittedly had little interest in being bound herself. She wasn’t sure if it interested her at all to do the tying but she wasn’t planning on finding out tonight, her horny meditative mind aside. Instead, she allowed the conversation to be redirected “How much do you trust me?”

“Completely.” He shot her an impish look. “Are you still keeping this secret?”

“I think you’ll enjoy it more that way,” she replied and swore his eyes positively glittered. Oh hell, yes he liked her hand on his reins. Dani filed that nugget away. 

“You do realize you’re setting an impossibly high bar for me on our second date.”

“It’s not a competition, Bright.” She wrinkled her nose. If they were dating, she probably should call him Malcolm when they were alone. Funny thing, neither of them seemed to doubt there’d be a second date.

“Still.”

“Just eat up.”

They finished dinner with plenty of time to get to the last facet of her plans. Once she had him in front of the National Museum of the American Indian, Dani decided to let him in on what was going on. However, she noted his interest in the museum first. That could be another date at another time. Dani pulled up the tickets on her phone and showed him.

Bright’s eyes popped as he took her phone from her and scrolled through what the activity entailed. “Boroughs of the Dead ghost tour? How did you…the podcast talk.” A huge grin slashed across his face as he gave her phone back. “This is fantastic!”

“Great. I was worried you’d think this is weird.”

“This is the best. I’m thrilled. I can’t wait.” Bright caught her in his arms, spinning her around before giving her a quick kiss.

“Good, two hours of ghosts and history, and I can’t believe I’m doing this.” Dani laughed. “Do you actually believe in ghosts?”

“I like to keep an open mind but the history of these tours is a lot of fun too. I hope you enjoy it too.”

“I’m excited for it,” Dani admitted.

She slipped an arm around his waist, snuggling against him as they waited. Their guide brought her enthusiasm with her as she led the group past burying grounds and churches. She spun tales about a haunted tavern and from the look on Bright’s face, Dani knew they’d be going there at one point. Hell, he might even drag Gil and JT along. Edrisa would be in like a shot. 

Dani learned things about Manhattan’s earliest days that she had never known, making her sad her schooling hadn’t included fun facts like this: Pirates and witches and revolutionaries, at least a few of them she’d heard of. There was one story about an Arabella Milton who’d been one hell of a firecracker back in the 1700s. Dani whispered, ‘one of yours?’ to Bright, and he nodded. Honestly she didn’t know if Arabella Milton’s spirit wandered lower Manhattan but if Dani were to put money down on a site to be haunted, it would be Milton Manor. She wasn’t sure how his mother stayed.

As they walked and listened and questioned, their guide gave them time to take some pictures. Dani couldn’t see them well on her camera in the light of the streetlamps, and she wasn’t sure what she’d do if there was something on them when she looked at them later. If nothing else, they’d have some photographic mementos of this crazy long date she had planned. The ghosts were more fun that she had imagined and was a little disappointed they couldn’t go into the places but she understood why. A subtle sadness settled on her when the tour ended. The date was nearly over and in spite of them being together for more than twelve hours, she wasn’t ready for it to end.

She drove Bright back to his loft, tiredness starting to suck on her bones. 

He looked up at his building and then at her. “You look tired. Do you want… I mean, not _that_.” He fluttered his hands as if he could wipe the offer out of the air. “I mean, I have a couch and the upstairs couch pulls out. I could take either of them.”

Dani smiled. He looked so cute when flustered. “I appreciate the offer but I should go home.” He knew cops were used to functioning tired. She didn’t want to say it. “But it’s tempting.”

“Good. Thank you for today, Dani. I know people don’t normally thank others for a date but you put so much thought into this, to make every part of it enjoyable as hell, and I had the best time I can remember in literally forever.”

“I’m so glad. You have no idea how good happy looks on you.” Dani pulled him into a kiss over the gear shift.

She reluctantly let him go while she could still find the will to do so. Dani promised him she’d text him so he knew she’d gotten home safely. Maybe she had packed a little too much into one date but from where she was sitting, it had been worth every moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again the places are real. There is a Jacques Marchais museum of Tibetan art and I highly recommend the Boroughs of the Dead ghost tour. Honestly I'm not 100% sure how feasible it is to get from one place to the other in the time frame but it's fiction. Speaking of fiction, obviously I didn't write in the pandemic which is just too heartbreaking and depressing and would make this story actually currently impossible. My thoughts, however, are with those who've suffered from Covid-19.


	4. The Beach House

Chapter Four

It had taken a few days to clear a case she and JT had – they had consulted with Bright on the side in Gil’s hospital room because the case had a weirdness they knew he’d like – and after that there was time for another date. Bright had planned this one and her only clues were that geographically it was easier for her to go to his loft than for him to come to her place, and that she should bring a change of clothes and a swimsuit, casual dress was fine. Curious, she had packed a bag and drove to his place. She went to the small private parking lot behind the building to find him waiting for her in slate gray cargo pants this time and a cornflower blue shirt that brought out his eyes. She felt sure he knew that. In his hands was a parking permit to put in her windshield. It was hers for a kiss.

Dani picked up her bag, locked up and looked at him expectantly. She knew the date wasn’t just hanging in his loft, not if she needed a swimsuit but her mind had been whirling all the way here. He was self-admittedly bad at dating so she wondered what he had planned. “If I’m not driving…”

“You get to be the passenger today.” Bright led her to a hunter green Corvette Stingray and popped its tiny trunk. His bag was already inside. 

She widened her eyes. “Is this Gil’s newest ride? Did you buy it for him?”

Bright laughed. “No, but he would love it. He and Mother have been car shopping online. Last I heard he was explaining why she couldn’t buy him a Shelby cobra no matter how much he’d love it.”

No, of course not, Dani thought. The insurance alone would be cost prohibitive not to mention it would get stolen in a heartbeat. “I’m sure. Wait…you can drive?” She side eyed him.

“You can’t be in the FBI if you can’t.” He grinned.

“So why have Gil and I been chauffeuring you everywhere?” Dani hip bumped him.

“I don’t own a car.” He shrugged and Dani suspected it ran deeper. His mother had a driver – and that’s who Dani fully expected to see today when Bright said she wasn’t driving them – and suspected Bright had been driven around most of his life. She was probably taking her life in her hands getting behind the wheel with him in a sports car.

“Did you have training in high speed maneuvers?”

He shook his head and opened the door for her. “Still a profiler. They didn’t expect me to chase people down much. Also I doubt we’ll be moving fast, which will just disappoint the car.”

Laughing, Dani slipped inside the Corvette, figuring she just heard Gil speaking through Bright. He was right, of course. Traffic wasn’t going to let the Corvette strut its stuff. Bright remained mysterious about their destination until they went over the Throg’s Neck bridge and it was obvious someplace on Long Island was where they were headed. He didn’t enlighten her much and their chatter went to other things, like the weird mist in one of their ghost pictures and how she might have to reevaluate her thoughts on hauntings. Her grandmother had been thrilled when she showed her and wanted to go on a tour, not taking it’s a one mile two hour hike as a ‘no.’

“Still no hints?” Dani asked, as the traffic thinned and they got up to speed in the less populated parts of the island. He’d asked for permission to put the top down. Her hair whipped wildly and would be in snarls by the time they got wherever they were heading. Thankfully, she had packed a brush. 

“You have some hints.”

“That my dinner choices were chicken marsala or beef Bourguignon so I know I’m going to eat at some point.” She eyed him. “I’m not sure me wanting chicken is a hint.”

“Might be. Like I said, you did set the bar pretty high.”

“I almost set it higher. I found something I thought you would have loved but thought better of it.”

He glanced over at her. “Oh?”

“Did you know that the natural history museum does sleep overs?”

“I did not! How did I not?” 

She swore he bounced in his seat. “I thought you’d love that, prowling the museum at night but then I thought, you on a cot sleeping in public might not be the best idea.”

“Sadly no. Do we have to sleep? Could we, you know, nap first and stay up all night?” He made a face as he pulled up to a gate. “Probably not but I want to find out.”

As he got out to open the gate, Dani wondered if he was thinking about using the family name and money for a private sleep over. She’d probably find herself and the whole team spending the night and it would probably end with Bright plowing into something priceless after a bad dream. Could he be handcuffed to the cot? 

He eased the car through and as he went to shut the gate, she peered at the building at the end of the drive. It was a long three-story white building with lots of windows and was that a turret? Yes, it was! Had he somehow found a small castle?

“Did you bring me to a bed and breakfast?” she asked confused as they rolled down the driveway. She didn’t think his entire date would be a king-sized bed in a strange place. She doubted he slept well in hotels and she couldn’t see nothing but a day of sex as his planned date, especially not for a second date when all they had shared so far were a couple of kisses. 

“What? No, this is my place in the Hamptons. Well Mother’s but I have it for now.” He smiled. 

“This is yours?” Dani blinked. His suits aside, he acted like a normal guy. She could forget his money but not when she looked at this home. It shrieked ‘I’m rich.’ The place was huge, and she could smell the salt air from here. 

“Yes, we don’t get out here nearly enough but I thought it would make for a nice quiet date. We can go down to the dock and put our feet in the water. There’s a pool so I thought we could swim and get some nice fresh air and just _relax_ , talk maybe.” 

There was something so shy in his tone that she studied him. That was what this date was about, the actual get to know you. He had been right. There was an unevenness in their relationship that went beyond his money. She had all the information on him and he had nothing much on her other than she’d lost her dad early and her grandma gave her Earl Grey tea, and of course, the ugliness of undercover.

“Maybe it’s not the best idea for a date,” he said, parking. Bright immediately deflated and she could read his mind. He thought she wasn’t into this.

Dani leaned over the gear shift and kissed his cheek. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. I can’t believe this place. It’s gorgeous.”

“You haven’t even seen the inside. Want a tour?”

“Of course.” Dani bailed out of the Corvette, stretching. It was a sexy car but it wasn’t entirely comfortable.

He popped the trunk and grabbed both bags out. She took hers from him. She could carry her own bag. He shut the trunk and reached out, brushing hair off her face. “Maybe I shouldn’t have put the top down.”

“It was nice. Hair brushes out.”

“And you look beautiful anyhow.” He smiled at her.

Dani swallowed hard. He’d never said she was beautiful before. She knew she looked like a hot mess right now but he didn’t see it. “Thanks.”

“It’s okay, though, right?” He walked up to the front door, fishing out his keys. “Being here?”

“I know your family is rich, Bright. This isn’t a surprise. Well, coming here was a surprise but if you’re worried…”

“I am,” he interrupted a little loudly as he opened the door for her. “I keep thinking she’ll think I’m showing off or that this will be a dull date; that I should have done something, anything, different.”

“Whisking me away to your castle by the sea?” She smiled, running a hand over his arm. “I feel a little like a princess right now, and it’s a new feeling for me. And don’t worry so much.”

“I have a certain reputation,” he protested.

Dani set her bag down near the door and caught his free hand, pulling him close. “That you’re broken, that you’ll never be normal, that you don’t do well with relationships. Here’s the thing, Bright. I knew all those things and still wanted to be here with you.” She tapped his chin. “I don’t believe any of those bad things. Besides, normal can be boring. Who wants that?”

He pulled her against him, resting his forehead against hers for a moment. His breath curled around her skin. “Thank you.”

“And I know you’re freaking a little bit about the money. I knew you had money long before this. Relax. You’re right, I’d like to sit by the pool and talk. There is a lot we don’t know about each other and there’s really no reason not to.” Dani smiled softly. “But first, you said something about a tour.”

“And so I did. Bring your bag.”

He escorted her into a large living room with tons of windows framed in light colored natural wood. Through them and across a grassy expanse, she could see the water lapping the shore through them. A huge TV hung on one living room wall and the furniture seemed to be the comfy type you didn’t want to get out of. From there they went into the kitchen. 

“I called ahead and had the caretaker stock up the fridge with a few things. You’ll find a six pack of root beer in there for you. That’s your favorite, right?”

“Yes? Who told?”

He shot her a haughty look. “I am an investigator. I notice things.”

“It was Gil.” She grinned, and he huffed at her. 

He beckoned her to follow and went he went into the next room. This dining room wasn’t as formal as the one in his mother’s Upper East Side home but still, there were hints of their money everywhere in the elaborately carved table and chairs, sideboards and art. Bright tossed his bag on the table and indicated for her to do the same. He opened the French doors that led from the dining room to the outside patio.

Dani stood for a moment on the slate stones, listening to the surf. She wanted to run down to the shore just to see it but she followed Bright sedately to the nice sized oval swimming pool. “Okay that is sweet.”

“I wasn’t sure if you could swim or not but it does have a swallow end,” he replied. “I love swimming.”

“I do too. I took your advice and brought my suit.”

He swept his gaze over her, no doubt imagining her in the suit. Good to know he was like most men in some ways. “Excellent. Want to see the dock?”

“Sure. Do you have a boat?”

“No, I’m not sure if we ever did. Sailing was not my father’s thing, and I don’t remember Mother ever doing so either. We kept the dock though because apparently it’s a selling point and not easy to get permission for or something. I don’t really pay too much attention.” He rolled his shoulders as he started crossing over the yard onto a stone-edged path. The path wasn’t actually grass Dani realized as their steps sent up a heady scent.

“Bright, what is this? It smells great.”

“Oregano and thyme. If I got really ambitious, we could use it for dinner but…” 

She brushed her foot over the greenery, sending up a waft of perfume. “Do you cook?”

“I can but I often don’t. You?”

“Grandma insisted on it. Where will we be going for dinner?” Dani tugged on a strand of her wind-snarled hair. It wouldn’t matter, she decided since she would be swimming before dinner and would have to shower and wash her hair anyhow. 

“We’re not. And no, I won’t be harvesting the walkway.” He smirked. “I hired a personal chef.”

“Which is why you gave me a menu. That should be fun!” Dani had never had a personal chef cook for her. This was some next-level pampering. “But do you eat chicken marsala?”

“Every choice I offered you were things I can normally eat,” he replied, stepping out onto the narrow swath of sand. There wasn’t much of a beach. The wooden dock jutted into the water. She had the wrong shoes on at the moment for kicking them off and getting her toes wet. They would rub if she put them back on with wet feet.

“It’s really pretty but I was expecting more of a beach.”

“Not on this side of the island. There are other areas of the Hamptons that have bigger beaches. I suspect when my grandmother bought this place that was a huge consideration. You did not track in dirt, not if you wanted to live,” he said, and somehow she didn’t think that was a joke. Bright rarely spoke of any of his other relatives beyond Ainsley and his mother – and of course his father. She had to wonder if they were not close or maybe he didn’t like them. She was glad she had a family that didn’t trigger negative thoughts at every turn.

“I like it here. It’s quiet, peaceful,” she said. 

“I should come more often. Maybe now I will.” He smiled at her.

Dani took his hand and tugged him close. She hugged him, peppering kisses over his lips. He melted against her and Dani held him tight, realizing he needed it as if he was teetering on the edge today. When he freed himself from her embrace, Malcolm stepped back, cupping her chin. For a second he looked like he was going to say something but choked again, as if whatever it was, was simply too big for words. Dani skimmed her hand down his arm and interlocked her fingers with his. She pulled him along the path back toward the house. 

“We can come back later when we’re in our swimsuits so our pants won’t get wet when we sit on the dock,” she said, letting the moment pass, giving him room to breathe. Dani paused spotting something she hadn’t seen on the way to the water. The house had a large balcony above the patio, overlooking the water. “That balcony is amazing.”

“We can sit out there with …well, you know, I wasn’t sure if you drank much. I have wine and I can’t imagine a place Mother owns that doesn’t have a full bar somewhere in it.” He shrugged. “But it doesn’t matter if you have a drink or a glass of root beer. We can chill out there.”

She laughed softly. He was cute and a little hapless trying to sound casual. It wasn’t his natural state. “I don’t drink much,” Dani admitted. “Booze wasn’t my addiction but I don’t like pushing my luck. I usually stop at the second drink.”

He started walking again. “So do I, corpse revivers aside. Like I said, I shouldn’t really drink much on my meds.”

“Do you even like wine?” she asked, getting another hit of oregano and thyme. It was like walking into an Italian diner. 

“In full disclosure, I pretend to. I have any number of societal obligations Mother expects me to fulfill.”

“When you’re not standing her up.” Dani grinned, remembering the ballet and Mrs. Whitly’s resulting sarcastic barbs.

“That too. Wine is always on offer. True oenophiles like it dry and usually red. I’d rather suck vinegar.” He chuckled. “If it’s wine, I like the sweet stuff, like adult Kool-Aid.”

“Oh, Bright going for the sugar, who could have guessed.” She hip bumped him, and he laughed. 

“I’d argue but no one would believe me. I would be perfectly content taking you on a wine country Finger Lakes trip so long as it was sweet wines.”

Dani wagged her head. “I’m trying to picture the potent mix of sugar, alcohol and benzos and what it’ll do to you and all I can see is you as a Jack Russel terrier, leaping everywhere.”

“Ouch!” Bright slapped a hand to his chest. “I can’t at least be a Golden Retriever?”

“Are they as hyper as a terrier?”

“No, not usually.”

“There’s your answer then.”

“So mean.” Bright grinned and opened the French door for her. “I’ll take you upstairs. You can use either Mother’s room or one of the guest rooms if you want to change into your swimsuit.” 

“The guest room would be good. I wouldn’t want to invade your mother’s space.” She picked up her back from the dining room table and he did the same.

He nodded, leading the way up the carved wooden staircase. Dani started to follow him down the hall but stopped, dropping her bag as she drifted over to another set of French doors. She went out onto the balcony. The breeze whipping around her carried the heavy sent of salt and sea. That feeling of being a princess in a castle returned with all the conflicting emotions it carried. She shoved the negative ones aside. She deserved to enjoy this taste of grandeur. Malcolm hadn’t followed her out, maybe giving her time to just soak up the ambiance, maybe a little afraid of what she thought of it all. She was sure that at some point in his life there had to be woman who saw him as a pocketbook and little else. She knew for certain he didn’t see her that way but that didn’t mean he wasn’t gun shy. 

There she went again, thinking the worst. _And Bright thinks he sucks at relationships. He has no idea._ She was the gun shy one. Khalil had hurt her. He’d been a nightmare. Malcolm had no clue how his kindness, his empathy even for the bad guys, even his maniac energy affected her. He thought he was broken. Dani would piece him together like the porcelain creature he was and take every crack and fracture as a gift over the dominance and overinflated ego someone like Khalil had brought to the table. 

Hearing footsteps, Dani turned and saw Malcolm had come through a different doorway further down the expansive balcony. The breeze blew his hair right into his eyes as he strolled toward her. He pushed it back.

“Just where did you come from?”

He pointed back to the second set of French doors. “That’s my room. It probably should have been the master suite but the house is old and the en suite is a late addition. It’s on the bedroom on the other side away from the ocean because grandmother didn’t like the sounds of the surf.” Bright rolled his eyes. “I claimed this room early on, no plans on giving it up. I’m not out here often but if I am, and I can’t sleep, I come out on the balcony and sit and watch the moon and stars on the water.” He stopped at her side.

She wondered if it was safe for him to have glass doors to run through and a balcony to go over. He didn’t seem worried, caught up in the romance of having a space under the night sky. “That sounds wonderful.”

“It is.” Malcolm caught her hands, rubbing his thumbs over the back of them. “What would you like to do first? Finish the tour, though that’s a little boring. It’s nothing but a few more bedrooms up on the third floor and a sitting area. A swim in the pool? Take some drinks down to the dock?”

“Definitely change for the water,” she replied, stepping in closer. She could smell that bergamot-woodsy cologne again or was it body wash? Either way, she liked it. “But I think I’ll start here.”

Dani kissed him light and quick. Like lightning, the touch ran through her, sparking wildfires. She threw her arms around him, kissing him harder. She ran her finger through his thick hair as she explored the inside of his mouth with her tongue. His rose to fence with hers as he tightened his arms around her. Dani kissed him until her head swam. She pulled free, backing toward the open door to his bedroom.

She grinned and darted for the French doors. She slipped inside as he ran after her. He shut the door behind him, leaning against it, framed in sunlight. Dani pressed him against the glass, nipping at his chin. She snaked her hands under his shirt, surprised to feel hard muscle. He wasn’t slender so much as wiry. Dani skimmed her hands up, taking his shirt with them. He slipped free of it and she tossed it aside, her eyes drinking him in hungrily. 

Her mouth turned to a desert as a pleasant warmth rolled through her, pooling into a down low tickle. Bright stood still for what seemed like forever, letting her study him, but was probably only a second for two before he pulled her against him. Malcolm feathered his kissed over her lips and down her neck, drawing the heat out of her. He sank to his knees, rucking her shirt up, planting more kissed against her belly. His tongue fluttered over her skin, butterfly kisses searching for nectar. 

Malcolm rose slowly, taking her shirt up and off. His blue eyes met hers, asking permission to go further. Part of her said this was too fast but that was her fear. They had known each other for months. She trusted him like few others, and in this moment, wanted him like none before him. Dani slipped out of her bra, letting it fall to the floor, and he tossed her shirt on top of it as he took her back in his arms. He nuzzled her neck, his breath hot against her pulse point. He kissed his way down to her breasts, showering attention on one then the other making her knees soften and tremble. She played her fingers over the hard muscles in his back, feeling his erection press against her hip.

“Now I wish you had worn your silk tie,” she murmured.

He lipped her earlobe, his tongue playing over her earring, before he let go and whispered, “I have some in the closet.”

But of course he did because he would not be Malcolm Bright without a tie somewhere. Dani slithered free of his hands, grinning and all but danced over to the closet. As she pulled it open, he yanked the covers down on his bed, his restraints flopping to the floor with a dull thud.

“Pick an ugly one,” he said, grabbing his bag and rooted around in it.

Dani wrinkled her nose, eyeing the small collection. “Is this where you hide the ties from relative without taste?”

“Exactly.”

Dani came away with a puce and chartreuse paisley tie obviously purchased by a color-blind great uncle and probably should have gone down a garbage chute. She saw what he had been after in his bag: a condom. Smart, beautiful man, one who obviously had drove here with high hopes for the day. Dani looped the tie around his neck and took him down on the mattress, landing next to him, laughing. As she tried to giggle and kiss at the same time, Malcolm stripped the tie from around his neck, wadding the horrid thing in his palm. He ghosted the silk across her collarbone and down over one breast. Her nipples pebbled up as she allowed her eyes to flutter shut. He was so right about the feel of silk on skin.

Her blood thundered in her ears as his rough scruff took the place of silk on her sensitized skin, the contrast scattering her thoughts as he toyed with her nipple, his lips hot against her skin. When her senses gathered again, Dani undid his pants, reaching inside to feel silk because of course he had on silk boxers today. There were those high hopes again. She rubbed the black silk against his cock where it jutted against her hand. Malcolm moaned softly against her flesh.

With another teasing caress, Dani rolled to her feet, looking down at him. His blue eyes deepened to a storm-over-seas hue, filled with lust. Reclining on the burgundy sheets, he could have been artwork. Ideas formed in her head, ones she hadn’t entertained before or, more accurately, had entertained but dismissed. In the moment, they seemed far more right than they had that night over a pizza dinner. Malcolm reached for her and she let him pulled her close again. He kissed her navel once more as he hooked his finger in her waistband and pushed her pants and panties down. He slipped off the bed, puddling on his knees at her feet as he took her clothing all the way off, and she stepped out of them. He kissed his way from calf to thigh before canting his face up at her. Dani ran her hand along his cheek, and he pressed it against her palm. 

She sat on the bed and beckoned for him to come closer. Dani splayed her hand on his abs, still a little shocked he had muscles hiding under those fitted suits all along. She pressed her lips to the golden-brown trail of fuzz running down the middle of him as she looped her fingers in his pants, sending them down his legs. She rubbed the silk of his boxers against his balls and cock until his legs trembled and his breathing hitched. Finally, she skimmed them down over his heated skin and sat back, letting him kick out of his pants.

Dani pulled him back on the bed, rolling him onto his back on the so soft sheets. Locking fingers with him, she pressed against him, their mouths warring for dominance. Letting go of his hand, Dani fished up one of his restraints. She had done some calculations in her head. He had a significant amount of play in the leather straps. She wasn’t interested in him being tied down tight, unable to touch her, but with these he’d be fine. 

Dani caught his wrist and slapped the cuff on him. His mouth fell open, and as she tightened the leather down, she watched his pupils spin open, his eyes nearly black as night now. Malcolm offered her his other hand and Dani strapped that one up too. She sat in the crook of his hip, surveying him. A rosy blush spread across his chest and up his neck. She traced the bow of his collarbone before soothing her hand over the hard flat planes of his torso. The scar Watkins had left him with stood out starkly on his skin.

The skin around his eyes crinkled a bit, worry hiding in them. Did he fear she would hate it? Reject him? Of course he did. Malcolm spent his life being rejected. Dani leaned forward, kissing the scar’s rough ridge, letting him know this didn’t matter. His flaws and cracks were all part of him and she wanted of them. From the scar, she trailed her tongue up over his chest, tasting the salt of him, that woodsy-bergamot body wash mixing with his own scent. Dani tickled one of his nipples with the ends of her hair, making him wiggle under her. 

Straddling him, Dani rested some of her weight on his belly as he explored her body. She arched into his touch, the leather straps snaking over her heated skin. That was a different sensation for her too. Not entirely as sensual as the silk but still arousing. Him worshipping at the altar of her body warmed her, a down-low pressure slowly building into an undeniable need. She shifted positions so she could see all of him. Every part of Malcolm was well built. She watched to touch and taste every inch of him.

Dani didn’t want to hurry a moment of this. Stretching out next to him, she kissed him some more. She stroked his shaft slowly, feeling it twitch in her hand. He explored her in return, sparking fires as he went, threatening to burn her straight down to ash. Unable to hold back any longer, Dani squirmed across the bed to reach for the condom he’d left on the nightstand. After rolling it onto him, Dani swung her leg over him. Staring down at him with undisguised lust, she sheathed him inside her, slowly enjoying the sensations as her body accommodated him.

Malcolm captured her hips in his hands as they discovered their rhythm. Their bodies didn’t know each other yet but they learned fast. Dani trailed her fingers over his arms and his bound wrists. He hadn’t been wrong; there was something utterly arousing about the cuffs on him. Maybe she’d break out all the ties next time. Spotting the ugly one she had fetched on the sheets, she nodded to it. Malcolm snatched it up, drawing it over her belly, breasts and thighs, teasing her with expert precision even as he rolled his hips up into hers. As Dani encouraged him to pick up the pace, he looped the tie around one of her wrists, holding on gently.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, “I have no words.”

“You don’t need them,” she promised and burned him down.

Afterwards, Dani crashed down on the mattress next to him, silk still looped over her wrist. Dani wrapped Malcolm in her arms, resting her head on his heaving chest. She hadn’t felt this safe, this open, this loved in years. She didn’t expect to drift off but startled awake, hearing him making a soft sound, moving under her. She couldn’t know if his dream was good or bad so she shook him awake gentle. He blinked at her, scrubbing his hand over his face, the leather strap tickling his chin.

“I think we fell asleep.” She smiled at him. “Though I wouldn’t mind wearing you out all over again.”

“Do you hear a protest?” he chuckled, turning onto his side, looking at the clock. “Oh…yeah the personal chef will be here soon.”

Dani laughed. “I guess we shouldn’t scare the chef off. There’ll be time afterwards.”

“My cuffs aren’t going anywhere.”

She slipped her arms around his neck, kissing him. “They were hot. Guess you’re not the only kinky one.”

“Sounds like we have exploring to do.”

“Cannot wait.”

XXX

Dani sat on the outdoor pillow she’d carried down to the dock. Her feet dangled in the cold water. Malcolm sat next to her and the chef was in the kitchen preparing their meal. She could get used to this level of pampering. Her root beer bottle rested cool against her thigh. He sipped his scotch, his arm around her waist. “And you thought you would mess up planning a date. I don’t want this to end.” 

“It doesn’t have to.”

“That’s why you told me to pack a change of clothes and swimsuit.” Dani gestured to her electric blue swimsuit, and she had been right. Bright loved it.

“I’m devious.” He smirked and she snorted. He let go of her, took his phone out of his shorts, and sent a couple texts. “There, either Mom or Ains will go feed the cats and we can spend the night.”

“I can’t imagine either of them facing the hoard.” Dani snickered.

“God, I hope it’s Mother. She needs to get use to them if she’s going to date Gil.”

His phone beeped. He glanced at it, shook his head, texted back and then burst out laughing.

“What?”

“Just thinking…does Mother know… Gil sleeps with those cats and then the mental images…” he rasped out between mad giggles, which proved contagious.

Dani almost laughed herself into the bay. “Oh god,” she gasped, wiping tears off her cheeks. “I cannot…”

“Me either. She’s not impressed I want her to feed them either.” He tapped the phone. “Too bad because I plan to go back to the house, have a wonderful meal, sit on the balcony under the stars while I’ll get to know you better, and then go to sleep with you while we listen to the ocean.”

“I love every part of that plan.” Dani interlocked her fingers with his and nudged his foot under the water. “And hoping the get to know you part of it has many meanings.”

He made a sound almost like a purring cat. “Verbal, physical, all those wonderful things.”

“Excellent.” She melted against his shoulder.

“It took a great deal of magic for us to have crafted two perfect dates.” He smiled softly. “but we did it.”

“Indeed, we did.” She raised her root beer bottle, and he clinked his glass to it. “We still have time to sit here a little longer, don’t we?”

“Mmm, yes. And we can always come back after dinner,” he replied. 

“Sounds nice. I just want to stay in this moment a little longer.”

“Me too.” 

He cupped her chin, drawing her into a kiss. He was right. It had been perfect and the promise of more wonderful days ahead thrilled her. Malcolm might be broken but maybe now he saw he was also a gift. She would remind him of it as often as necessary. But for now, they were here in this blissful moment, both of them happy and content, captivated by each other. It was wondrous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I appreciate your support and thanks to Prettybutt for the fun prompt.
> 
> Here is the fun badge from dick or treat for this story
> 
> [](https://imgur.com/2SQuzmp)  
> 


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